


Band of Brothers ~ Secret Agents Haikyuu!! AU

by haikyuuliberos



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-01 03:12:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6498583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haikyuuliberos/pseuds/haikyuuliberos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Team Dunamis, and the highest-ranking, most skilled elite team of the Japan Secret Protection Organization.</p>
<p>Sawamura Daichi: Codename- Alpha<br/>Nishinoya Yuu: Codename- Ninja<br/>Kuroo Tetsurou: Codename- Panther<br/>Iwaizumi Hajime: Codename- Cedar<br/>Bokuto Koutarou: Codename- Owl<br/>Akaashi Keiji: Codename- Halo<br/>Oikawa Tooru: Codename- Riddler</p>
<p>When Team Dunamis has to face their enemy, Team Apollumi, of the organization Serpent, will they be able to uphold justice and protect thousands of innocent people?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mission 258

This was the most dangerous mission that Team Dunamis (of the  _ Japan Secret Protective Organization _ ) had ever faced.  They were battling their long time enemy, Team Apollumi of the undercover organization  _ Serpent _ , who was attempting to take control of major world countries.

“Ninja, prepare for plan execution in 10,” Daichi’s voice pierced through Nishinoya’s ear.  “Attack Force, prepare for distraction.”  The small spy smirked to himself, sliding his pistol into his holster.  He could clearly see Ushijima, Team Apollumi’s leader, talking to his other agents as Noya watched from the air vent above the room.  Suddenly, gunfire and hollering was heard, and Agent Hanamaki and Matsukawa ran out of the room, armed and ready to fight.

Ushijima glanced behind him, his hazel eyes filled with their usual aggressive sheen.  Nishinoya leaned against the side of the vent, waiting for the signal.  Apollumi’s leader brought his hand to his headpiece before glaring and rushing out of the room, grabbing a large machine gun.

“Leader armed with a large weapon,” Noya warned through his head piece.  “He’s on his way now.”  When he felt confident of nobody in the room, Nishinoya kicked the bottom of the vent out and graceful leapt down, rolling to pad his fall.  “Agent Halo, what am I looking for, exactly?”

“There should be a pressure plate near the giant screen, so feel around for that.  Then a small compartment should open up, and theoretically, a flash drive is in there,” Akaashi informed.  Nodding his head even though he wouldn’t be seen, Nishinoya began feeling around the room.  Suddenly, his hand felt a weak plate and he pushed it, a small compartment under the desk opening up.  Reaching his hand in, Nishinoya successfully pulled out the flash drive.  However, reaching further, he felt another flash drive.

“Agent Halo, there’s another flashdrive,” he studied the two.

“A fake.  Does one of them have an engraving of three lines on it?” Akaashi’s typing on his computer was heard from Nishinoya’s headset.

“Yes.”

“Get rid of it.  Those drives carry viruses that destroy computers, and it would send Apollumi all of our information.”

“Are you positive?”

“Yes.”  Nishinoya tossed the fake flash drive across the room, right when a loud sound and a bullet whizzed by his face.  Looking towards the ceiling, he saw Apollumi’s sniper, Daishou, swearing from where his former hiding spot was.  Drawing his pistol, Nishinoya rolled under a table, shooting upwards even though Daishou had found cover.

“Damn, Daishou,” Noya taunted loudly, slipping the flash drive into a pocket of his bulletproof vest.  “Still inaccurate.”

“Like you’re any sort of a spy,” the other retorted.  Nishinoya grimaced, realizing he was trapped; things would be worse if the rest of the team members retreated.

“Alpha, we have a Code Yellow,” Nishinoya said into the earpiece.

“Hang on,” Daichi responded through the communication system, gunshots being heard.  Suddenly, a blood-curdling cry was heard through his earpiece.  “Two of their agents are down, Ushijima is left.”  By ‘down,’ Nishinoya knew they were just injured: Daichi told the team to never kill anyone unless it was absolutely necessary, but he usually used it as a threat.

A few tense moments later, Nishinoya saw Ushijima at the doorway, being dragged by Bokuto and Kuroo.  Daichi stood in the doorway, yelling up to Daishou. 

“Drop your weapons and come on down now unless you want your leader to be killed.”

The sniper dropped down from the ceiling, his hands in the air, while Iwaizumi tackled him and held him on the ground.

“Nishinoya, are you okay?” Daichi interrogated.

“Yup.”  The smallest member of the squad have a thumbs up.  Suddenly, the large screen in the room changed from battle plans and tactics to a video chat, showing Akaashi with a gun to his head (being held by Yaku), and Tendou grinning devilishly.  Two agents of Apollumi, who had somehow gotten into the JSPO base.

“Ah, Daichi!” The redhead greeted with a sick tone.  Akaashi struggled against the grip of Yaku and Tendou, squirming in his chair.  Yaku punched him in the cheek, the latter grimacing in his chair as he stared into the camera.

“Akaashi!” Bokuto cried out, aggressively letting go of Ushijima.

“I’m sorry,” Akaashi choked out.  “I picked up their signals too late.”

“Look, let’s negotiate something,” Daichi offered.

“You give us the flash drive, free our leader, and we take the information we need.  Nobody will get hurt,” Yaku tilted his chin up, thrusting the gun harder into Akaashi’s head.  Blood ran down his temple as he sat in the chair, suffering.

“That’s not how this goes down,” Kuroo barked, holding Ushijima tightly.  The leader of the enemy team scowled, staring into the camera.

“Tendou,” he yelled.  “Agents Hanamaki and Matsukawa are hurt.”

“What?” Tendou screamed.  The agent threw a punch at Akaashi’s nose, who let out a yell as he struggled to fight back.  Bokuto got his gun out and shoved it into Ushijima’s throat, watching in fear as blood began to come out of Akaashi’s nose.  His head rested awkwardly on his neck, clearly unconscious.

“Call them off!” Bokuto shouted even though he was face-to-face with the other squad’s leader.  The latter snickered evilly.  

“Bokuto!” Daichi pulled the gray-haired agent away.  “We’ll figure this out.”

“They’re hurting Akaashi!” Bokuto shoved his leader off of him.  Daichi grabbed his shoulders, his aura darkening dramatically.

“We will figure this out.”  Reluctantly, Bokuto put his weapon away as he paced the room, pulling his hair.

“So,  _ captain _ ,” Yaku said from across the screen.  “What kind of deal do we have?”  Daichi paced the room, back and forth, thinking for a few moments.  Kuroo studied the screen, his face deathly serious, until he saw something - no, some _ one _ \- moving in the background.  Suddenly, Tendou’s head whipped forward as the figure hit him with the butt of a gun, Yaku turning around in shock.  Yaku was then knocked out in the same manner.  The figure looked up at the screen, a smirk written on his face.

“Goddammit, Oikawa!” Iwaizumi yelled, still pinning Daishou to the ground.  “You couldn’t have done that sooner?”

“Sorry, I was coming from the other end of the building!” Oikawa complained, securing the gun onto his back.  Catching sight of Ushijima, he threw up a peace sign.  “Hello, Ushiwaka-chan!”

“Fuck you,” Ushijima spat, struggling against Kuroo, the bedhead using all of his might to pull the leader backwards.

“Well, I guess that’s - “ Suddenly, a bang was heard, the computer screen glitching and freezing for a second; it unfroze, revealing a furious Tendou and a bleeding Oikawa.  His black uniform was darker around his left shoulder, obviously being blood.

“Oikawa!” Iwaizumi screamed, accidentally slamming Daishou’s head against the floor.  Blood began to trickle out of the unconscious sniper’s nose.  Oikawa was leaning against a table, holding his shoulder, trying not to show pain.

“I’m fine,” Oikawa forced out, even though Tendou lifted him up by his collar, holding a gun to his head.

“He’s next, this time, for  _ real, _ ” the agent threatened, his eyes electric with rage.

“No!” Iwaizumi and Daichi yelled at the same time.  Suddenly, another shot was heard and, this time, it was blood coming from Tendou’s shoulder; he howled in agony, dropping his gun in the process, as Akaashi (holding his head), shakily bore a pistol in his hand.

“Jesus christ!” Kuroo shook his head, throwing the Apollumi leader to the ground with never-before-seen strength, knocking the wind out of him.  “Anything else going to happen?”

“No, we need to get out of here,” Daichi announced.  “Akaashi, can you call in the helicopter?”

“Yes,” his voice shook as he contacted the pilot.

“We have to  _ go _ !” Bokuto and Iwaizumi yelled, the group of agents sprinting out of the control room.  Everyone dashed out of the room, but Nishinoya stayed back for a second.  He saw an object that resembled a rubik’s cube and, curiosity getting the best of him, snatched it before sprinting down the hallway after the rest of the team.

“Agent Ninja, hurry up!” Daichi yelled over his shoulder as the group ran down the hallway.  Suddenly, gunshots were heard as bullets whizzed by the group.  Looking back, the group saw Ushijima, a bloody-faced Daishou, as well as a limping Hanamaki and Matsukawa holding his arm, chasing them with their guns firing.

The squad rounded a corner, Daichi staying back.

“Go!”

“Daichi!” They all faltered, looking back at him.

“A true leader lets his team get out safely,” he commanded.  “Go!”  Unwillingly, everyone, except Daichi, kept running towards the helicopter pad on the roof, hearing gunshots as Daichi retaliated.  Nishinoya stuck the weird cube into his vest, the group sprinting faster than they ever had in their career.

They burst onto the roof, the helicopter waiting for them, not quite landed but hovering.  Kenma nodded his head from the cockpit as the team piled onto the flying machine.  Kuroo hung back, gripping the railing, as everyone else leapt inside.

“Come on Alpha,” he mumbled to himself.  As every second ticked by, though, hope for Daichi returning was growing more and more faint.  He was such a great leader and would sacrifice himself so the rest of his team would make it out alive.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Daichi was sprinting across the landing pad.  Ushijima and his team were close behind, waving their guns around.

“Kenma, lift the copter!” Daichi shouted through the headset.

“You won’t make it!” Kenma replied, more angst in his voice than usual.

“Lift the copter!”

The pilot began raising the helicopter, and as Daichi neared the raising machine, he leapt into the air.  He only saw the sky, though, until a hand grasped his.  Kuroo held onto Daichi’s hand tighter than anything and, using every fiber of strength, pulled the leader onto the helicopter.  They quickly shut the door, seconds before bullets hit the side.  Kenma spun the helicopter around and began to fly it back towards their base, quite a distance away.

“Is everyone alright?” Daichi’s chest moved up and down heavily as he took his vest off.  Everyone did the same, checking themselves for injury.  Static sounded through the headset until the voice of a rookie, Kageyama, communicated to the group.

“This is Agent Raven reporting in, Agent Halo and Agent Riddler are being taken care of medically and the agents from Apollumi are being put into JSPO cells.”

“Thanks, Agent,” Daichi replied.  Everyone sighed in relief, leaning against the side of the helicopter, as it flew through the sky, the sun barely peeking over the horizon.  Daichi decided this was the best moment to recite the team’s motto.  “Band of brothers.”

Everyone echoed, “Band of brothers.”

\---

It was two days after the mission was completed; all of the agents of Dunamis were in their team headquarters, sitting around and talking nonchalantly even after such a dramatic set of events.  Oikawa bore a sling and a bandage (under his shirt), while Akaashi was fine with the exception of a minor concussion.  Iwaizumi pulled at the collar of his slightly-tight t-shirt, gaining Oikawa’s attention.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa grinned slyly.  “You should wear that more often.”

“Trash, we are at work,” Iwaizumi snapped, even though he was blushing.  Everyone else snorted with laughter.

Nishinoya was sitting in the back of the room, fiddling with the cube he had stolen from the headquarters.  Each side had numbers 1-9 (all of them in the same spot, going across), and it required a number from each side to be pressed to open up.  However, he couldn’t figure out the combination and calculated that there could be millions of combinations, so he had given up and just messed around with the object.  It would light up red if it was wrong, and he didn’t have any idea of what it would do if it was correct.

“Okay,” Daichi announced, catching everyone off guard.  “Akaashi, did you go through the flash drive?”

“Yes,” he responded, pulling up the flash drive on the advanced computer system.  There were multiple screens and folders opened up with the flash drive, and nobody really understood what it meant.  “There are plans to attacks and undermining the government of countries, which is a major advantage to us, so we can now thwart their plans.”

“Great work, then,” Daichi praised.  “We won’t be able to take part in those, though, because you and Oikawa are out for 4 weeks or so.”

“Yes,” Akaashi nodded his head.  “However, there is one folder that is slightly concerning.”  Everyone’s attention whipped back to the computer as Akaashi pressed a folder that read “Action Plan 867486.”  When he clicked it, there was nothing in the folder.

“Wait, what was the number?” Nishinoya asked, jumping up and walking towards the computer.

“Why?”

“I... found this cube when we were leaving and took it,” he confessed, presenting the cube in front of everyone.

“Try the number,” Bokuto suggested, crossing his arms.

“Alright.”  Nishinoya began to delicately plug each number in, starting on the side that had the Serpent emblem in place of the “5.”  8-6-7-4-8-6.

Suddenly, the cube made a noise that sounded like a bell and it opened up, presenting a hologram container.

“What the fuck,” everyone unanimously said.  The hologram expanded to cover a wide space and showed numerous graphs, pictures, and documents of information.  Akaashi’s eyes were as wide as saucers as he looked at all the information.  He touched it, the entire presentation of diagrams spinning around like it was a touchscreen.  Everyone gasped as Akaashi resized it, his eyes narrowing as a flash of pain behind his eyes hit him, a side effect of his concussion.  Bokuto could tell he was in pain and gently squeezed his shoulder.  Suddenly, the hologram began emitting sound.

_ “Torium is an element that scientists have just recently discovered, a mixture of multiple unstable isotopes of other elements, including Uranium, Argon, and Plutonium.  Torium is able to infinitely produce from itself, under the perfect set of conditions. _

_ This element is a key ingredient in the world of advancing weapon technology.  Scientists are currently experimenting with the element and, even with an even number of electrons, it is the most unstable element to date.  After an experiment with .001 grams of Torium,, a laboratory was destroyed by a fire after the Torium came into contact with a drop of water. _

_ As stated before, Torium is only made when the most unstable element isotopes come into contact with one another, where there is only one suspected location where the element naturally forms.  The element has only been made in laboratories but the UN made creation of this element illegal after numerous accidents occurred.  It is  _ Serpent’s  _ duty to find this naturally producing area and harvest the element to infinitely create it and investigate creating weaponry with the element. _

Just as quickly as the hologram appeared, it closed back up, Akaashi removing it and plugging it into his computer with more excitement than anyone had ever seen.  Everyone gathered around, watching as he opened the files individually.

“This is… this is a huge discovery in the world of science  _ and _ aiding in the fight against  _ Serpent _ ,” Akaashi’s face lit up as he spun around to face the group.  “I’m going to have to contact Director Ukai before we continue this, but Nishinoya, way to go.  This is probably the best thing that’s ever happened to our group, second to being formed in the first place.”  Everyone slapped Nishinoya’s back and ruffled his hair, the small member beaming proudly.

“Daichi, this is going to be a while until Director Ukai responds and I can sort through all the files,” Akaashi explained.

“That’s alright, take your time,” the team leader replied.  “Actually, Iwaizumi and Bokuto, I need to talk to you.”  The two gave each other a quizzical look before following Daichi into the back of the control room.

“What’s up?” Bokuto asked.

“So, the other day really showed something to me,” Daichi began, running a hand through his hair.  “I know you two are romantically involved with other members of the squad, but you have to keep in mind that you can’t let anything that happens to them affect your work.  Your relationship cannot get involved with our missions, or I’m afraid I will have to terminate the two of you the next time something like that happens”

“What?” The two attack force members huffed.

“I’m sorry,” Daichi apologized.  “It’s happened like once or twice, but with the missions becoming more and more intense as we are beginning to tie down  _ Serpent _ , things like that might happen.  You can’t put the entire team or the mission in jeopardy for one person, that’s how it is.”  Iwaizumi’s eyes were narrowed but his face showed he understood, while Bokuto’s golden eyes had anger flaring through them.

“I would’ve been mad if that were any of our members!” Bokuto retorted.

“I know-”

“What would you have done if it were Suga?”

“Bokuto!” Iwaizumi’s jaw dropped.  Daichi grabbed the collar of Bokuto’s shirt and shoved him into the wall, clenching his jaw so tight it could nearly break.

“Don’t bring Suga into this,” Daichi hissed.  Bokuto’s expression didn’t falter as Daichi forcefully let go of him.  “He didn’t die on the field.  He died on a fucking hospital bed.”

“Isn’t he the reason you joined the JSPO?” Iwaizumi tentatively asked.

“Yes.” Daichi turned away from everyone, his aura suddenly darker.  “That’s besides the point, though.  We have a mission, here.  And we need to take down  _ Serpent. _ ”

Everyone nodded in agreement, determination filling their minds.


	2. Mission 259

“Akaashi, what’s the mission overview?” Daichi asked as everyone suited up, watching Akaashi closely.

“So this is from when discovered the deal with the Torium that _Serpent_ was - is, possibly - looking for to illegally make weapons that do not fit in the Nuclear Energy Agency’s guidelines, which makes them extremely dangerous,” Akaashi flipped through some files.  “Using technology that is superior to that of _Serpent’s_ , we’ve tracked the possible natural source of the element to a cave system in Mongolia.”

“Mongolia?” Bokuto gasped, jumping up and down as he secured his vest on.

“Yes,” Akaashi glanced at him before continuing.  “We have to collect the element with this - “ he held up a container that self-opened and was able to collect the Torium.  “And we also have to remove the main sources of Uranium, Argon, and Plutonium, or the element will just be made again.”

“Doesn’t it reproduce infinitely?” Nishinoya questioned.

“Only in the right set of conditions, which scientists have not found yet,” Akaashi answered.  “So all of Dunamis is going on this mission, and we need to wear these gas masks because there are a lot of dangerous substances that contaminate the air.”  Akaashi passed out the gas masks to everyone.

“Okay, so this is how this is going down,” Daichi pulled up a digital map on their large planning table, everyone gathering around.  “Kenma will fly us into here and we will go into the cave system.  Each group will be given sensors that target the elements we are looking for.  Okay, so the groups are as follows:

Me and Kuroo are going to get the Plutonium.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi will take care of the Argon.

Bokuto and Akaashi will get the Uranium, and Nishinoya…

You will be going by yourself to obtain the Torium.”

“By myself?” The usually feisty agent asked uncertainly.

“We can change things if needed, but I think it’ll be best,” Daichi explained.  “Since it’s the farthest location away, the spaces might be tighter, and I trust that you can get in and out of their quickly and efficiently.”

“Alright.”  Nishinoya nodded his head, all eyes on him.

“When are we leaving?” Oikawa asked, his usually light-hearted demeanor replaced by a serious aura.

“In…” Daichi checked his watch.  “5 minutes.  Grab your bags and meet at the helicopter pad.”  Everyone frantically packed up, a suffocating silence choking the room.  This would be their most interesting and trying mission, diving into the dark caves of Mongolia to look for a history-changing element.

The group anxiously walked through the hallways of the JSPO headquarters, everyone stopping and staring at the elite team.  The team was intercepted by Kageyama though, who pulled Daichi aside.

“What’s the issue?” Daichi raised an eyebrow, checking the time nervously.

“Prisoners Tendou and Yaku escaped,” Kageyama explained quickly.

“What?”

“We don’t know how.  We are positive they are out of the building, though, but just in case they are somehow picked up and make it to the caves in Mongolia.”

“Okay.  It seems highly unlikely, but we’ll keep an eye out.  Thanks, Agent.”  Daichi pat the kouhai’s back, briskly walking in front of the Dunamis team, making their way to the helicopter pad.  Kenma was inside the cockpit, flipping switches and checking the radar.

Everyone boarded the helicopter and once everyone was inside, the helicopter door closed and the vehicle was in motion.

“We have 5 hours to kill,” Kuroo grumbled, whipping out a deck of cards.

“I’m up for that,” Bokuto sat on the floor, and everyone circled up as Kuroo dealt the cards around.

“Strip poker?” Kuroo smirked erotically.

“Yes!” Bokuto threw his hand into the air.

“Iwa-chan, wouldn’t that be fun?” Oikawa grinned slyly, earning a slap from Iwaizumi.

Bokuto and Kuroo were horrible at the game and had their shirts off within a few rounds, even with all their layers of gear.  Oikawa wasn’t great either and had his shirt off by the end of the game, which made Iwaizumi slightly pissed.  Akaashi and Daichi were really good at the game, and Nishinoya only managed to get down to his t-shirt.

After multiple hours spent playing poker and removing/putting clothes back on, they were close enough to the landing zone that they decided to go back over the action plan.

  1. Get into the cave system and find the elements.
  2. Secure the elements.
  3. Get out of the cave system as quickly as possible.



“Dunamis, we are going in for the landing,” Kenma’s voice crackled through the headsets.

“Copy that,” Daichi responded.  The squad geared up and, standing up, braced for the helicopter to land.  The vehicle door opened and the group jumped out, landing a few feet down.  They saw a giant hole in the ground, surrounded by many rocks, and began walking towards it.

“Keep an eye out for any Apollumi members,” Daichi warned as they were about to enter the dark cave.  “There’s a possibility that they could be here.  Also, remember to be careful when firing your gun because the cave is made up of unstable elements.”  Everyone just nodded their heads as they pulled the gas masks over their faces.  “Band of brothers.”

“Band of brothers.”

Each group pulled out their element detectors and in no time were already split up.  The caves were narrow and winding, which was slightly scary; it was as if it just kept going down, darker and deeper.

Bokuto shined his flashlight in front of him as Akaashi handled the element reader.  It beeped every so often, signaling that there was no Uranium where they were.  Akaashi sighed, looking up as the duo continued through the cave system.  He noticed Bokuto staring at him and blushed deeply, turning his head away.

“You’re really hot with a mask on,” Bokuto gaped.

“Let’s keep this professional,” Akaashi managed to force out, pushing his way past Bokuto.

“But Keiji!”

“Later.”  The two continued walking through the cave, making a left where the path split off.  To their good fortune, the detector beeped a little more frequently.

“This must be the right way,” Bokuto remarked.  

“Yeah.”

They walked side by side, heading farther through the tunnels.

“You know, Akaashi, you really worried me on our last mission.”

“Why is that, Bokuto?” Akaashi’s breath caught in his throat.

“I thought you were going to die.”  The two looked at each other, studying one another’s faces.

“Bokuto, don’t worry about me.  I would die in a heartbeat if it meant everyone else would be okay.”

“We all say that,” Bokuto interrupted, his tone strained.  “But just thinking about _you_ not being here… it’s 10 times worse.”

“Koutarou,” Akaashi paused, turning towards the gray-haired agent.  “We signed up for this when we joined the team.”

“I know we - “

A constant beeping interrupted Bokuto and the two looked down at the detector.  The red dot in the center, the detector, showed a little green dot, the Uranium, right near the two.

“Let’s get this quickly,” Akaashi mumbled, the two jogging to where the device showed.

\---

Daichi and Kuroo ran through the cave system, coming to their second dead end.

“Again?” Kuroo sighed.

“I guess,” Daichi scowled, the light from his gas mask illuminating his frustrated countenance.  “This thing hasn’t even changed its beeping pattern.”  The two turned around and changed their direction.  They heard a noise that sounded as if a rock was kicked across the ground and looked at each other, a little surprised.

“Was that you?” They asked in unison, before both responding “no.”

“Well shit,” Daichi grabbed his gun off of his back, holding the detector in his non-dominate hand.

“I didn’t think it would be this early we encounter Apollumi, if at all,” Kuroo commented, holding his own gun in his hands, in a position ready to attack.

The two wandered throughout the cave, treading lightly yet quickly, the feeling as if they were being watched constantly in their mind.  Daichi took things in quietly and seriously, while Kuroo was a little more vocal with his nerve-fueled adrenaline.  The detector began to beep at a faster frequency, relieving the two agents.  

“Well, some shit is going right,” Kuroo said as the two ran faster, in the direction of the beeping.

\---

“Iwa-chan, this is boring,” Oikawa complained, holding his gun over his shoulder as Iwaizumi carried the detector.

“Well you can suck my ass,” Iwaizumi muttered, not paying much attention to the brunette.

“Gladly.”

“Shut up, trash.”  

“I know you care about me,” Oikawa snorted, Iwaizumi looking up at Oikawa’s clever sorrel eyes.

“Okay.”

“Do you really?” The fluffy-haired agent asked, his tone not as joking as before.

“Of course, Tooru,” Iwaizumi responded, still studying the beeps of the Argon detector.  “Did you hear me basically flip a shit when you got shot?”

“I’ve gotten shot before, though!”

“It hit your bulletproof vest last time,” Iwaizumi scoffed.  “Speaking of which, why weren’t you wearing it?”

“I took it off because it was too tight,” he replied.  “I’m just too buff.”  This earned him a punch in the arm, unfortunately his left.  “Shit, that hurt!”

“Oh, sorry,” Iwaizumi apologized seriously, lightly rubbing his shoulder.  

“You _do_ care!” Oikawa danced around.

“Screw this, we’re on a mission,” the sniper changed the conversation.  “We’re just having no luck.”

“What about here?” Oikawa pointed down a small pathway in the side of the wall.

“I guess.”  The two had to go single file, Iwaizumi first because he had the sensor.

“Damn, Iwa-chan.  Nice ass.”

“I will actually shoot you if you don’t shut the fuck up.”

\---

Nishinoya hurried through the small caverns and tunnels of the dark cave.  He knew what he needed to do, and this was just like any other ordinary mission; he was almost always given the most important task or goal of the mission, this one was just a little different.

He was collecting an ultra-rare, extremely dangerous element in a giant, dark cave system in the wilds of Mongolia.

He was a little more nervous than usual, shining his flashlight shakily as he ran through the dark cave system.  The detector was slowly beeping at a constant pace as Nishinoya’s impatience and anxiety continued to build up.

“Where is it?” He asked aloud.  A bright light through a path in the corner of the cavern caught his eye, catching him off guard.  “Why is there light this deep underground?”  Walking towards the hole, Nishinoya gasped when he approached the hole.

There was a lava pool on the side of the pathway, a glistening material in the wall of the pathway catching the brilliance of the hot liquid; the detector was beeping like crazy.  That had to be the Torium.

Taking a deep breath, Nishinoya made his way around the lava pool delicately, shielding his eyes from the headache-inducing brightness.  He was sweating, just being near the hot material.

Nishinoya approached the Torium, studying it: the element was a slate-gray, but held a rainbow sheen when light was reflected off of it.  Carefully using a pickaxe, Nishinoya dug around the material to loosen it up and, once it was unattached to the rock wall, Nishinoya put it in the container and placed the container in his small backpack, hurrying out of the lava-filled cavern.

“This is Ninja reporting in,” Nishinoya said into the headset, panting slightly as he sprinted.  “I have obtained the Torium and I’m going to start finding my way out.”

“The Torium, huh?” A sickly cool tone voiced from the darkness.  Nishinoya froze in place, two figures emerging from the shadows.  It was Tendou, _the escaped prisoner,_ and Daishou.  The latter just stared at Nishinoya coolly, while Tendou’s eyes were filled with insanity-fueled anger.

“Thanks for doing the dirty work for us,” Tendou pulled a gun off of his back, holding it towards Nishinoya.  “If you just hand it over, nobody will get hurt.”

“Wait, how did you even escape and get _here?_ ” Nishinoya furrowed his eyebrows, stepping back from the duo.  The two edged forward toward Nishinoya, the small agent continuing to step away from them.

“The escape was a long process,” Tendou sighed, rolling his eyes sarcastically.  “But _Serpent_ headquarters managed to intercept your signals and found out the location.”

“Shit.”

“Hand over the Torium and everything will be… just fine.”

“Never.”  Nishinoya rolled under Daishou and past Tendou, until a hand grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him back.  His eyes flashed with fear as Daishou’s grasp tightened and Tendou’s fist met with Nishinoya’s cheek; the last thing he remembered was an unbearable pain searing through the right side of his forehead.

***

“ _This is Ninja reporting in, I’ve obtained the Torium and I’m going to start finding my way out,”_ Nishinoya’s voice announced through the headset.  Bokuto and Akaashi both sighed as they were running through the tunnels, trying to get out.  Thankfully, Akaashi had kept track of their path, so they were now just doing the opposite turns.  However, they stopped in their tracks when they heard yelling and scuffling.

“What is that?” Bokuto asked.

“I don’t know…” Akaashi whispered.  The two stuck themselves against the wall, on opposite sides, Akaashi leaning forward to try to look.

“Don’t do that!  They’ll see you!” Bokuto hissed, his gun aimed at the entrance to the specific cave pathway they were in.

“Bokuto, they’re going to see us either way,” Akaashi shook his head.  The two pinned themselves against the dark, rocky side of the tunnel, not daring to breathe.

“Aone, we should check down here,” Yaku’s unmistakable voice echoed throughout the cavern.  Akaashi and Bokuto looked at each other, mouthing the word, “ _Yaku.”_  Aone didn’t respond and just simply grunted, their footsteps growing closer and closer.  Akaashi was pretty scared, because he usually wasn’t on the battlefield, but he didn’t want to make Bokuto worry about him.

Suddenly, Bokuto whipped out of his hiding space, his gun raised, and Akaashi copied him.

“Drop your weapons,” Bokuto demanded.

“Oh, what’s this?” Yaku’s eyes widened in astonishment, but he played it off with a smirk.  “Agent Bokuto and, oh, hello again, _Akaashi._  Last time we met, I almost killed you.”

“Not exactly the nicest way to meet, but yes,” Akaashi responded, dead-pan.

“Now, we don’t want to hurt you,” Yaku tossed his pistol in the air, flipping it, and caught it again, studying the two with a dark aura around him.  “But we might have to if you make this more difficult than it needs to be.”  Ominously standing behind him, Aone had his large machine gun resting on his back.

“What do you want?” Bokuto snarled, shouldering himself in front of Akaashi.

“The Torium, what else?” Yaku sneered.  Akaashi nudged Bokuto, trying to tell him to not say anything.  “So you do have it, don’t you?”

“ _We_ don’t,” Bokuto scoffed.

“Then you’re useless to us.”  The two contrasting Apollumi members turned away, until Aone grumbled something incoherently.  Just as Akaashi and Bokuto relaxed, Yaku whipped around and fired his gun, the bullet flying between the two Dunamis agents.  “Unless you’re lying.”

Akaashi ducked behind some giant rocks while Bokuto hid in a crevice in the wall.  Bullets were sent back and forth between the two groups, occasionally yelling commands to each other.

“This is Agent Halo reporting in, we were intercepted by two Apollumi agents, copy?” Akaashi announced through the headset.  Nobody responded, and even after trying again, there was no communication.  He swore to himself, aiming his pistol and attempting to shoot at a moving figure.

“I’ll create a distraction, Akaashi, you get out,” Bokuto’s voice sounded from the other side of the cave.

“No,” Akaashi sputtered.  “No, I won’t let you.”

“We have to,” Bokuto argued.  “It’s the only way.”  Grimacing, Akaashi nodded his head and the two bolted forward.  Out of the corner of his eye, the brains of the operation saw Yaku fall down and heard a gun clank against the hard floor.  Suddenly, Akaashi was lifted off of his feet, hands tightened around his neck.  He choked, gasping for air before the hands squeezed harder, and Akaashi kicked his legs as he tried to pry the hands off of him.

A gunshot was heard and Akaashi was suddenly dropped, collapsing to the ground.  Aone was crying out in pain, and Akaashi could just make out blood flowing down his arm.  A fist was flying through the air, right towards Akaashi’s face, but something jumped in front of him.  Akaashi was crushed by Bokuto, who leapted in front of him and took Aone’s fist to his head.  Bokuto lay on top of Akaashi, just barely conscious, as Akaashi scrambled to get up and lift Bokuto.  Aone was furious, whipping his gun off of his back, but Akaashi shot him in the stomach.  With a loud rumble, the giant collapsed to the ground, blood pouring out of multiple wounds in his body.

“Bokuto!” Akaashi half-dragged half-ran alongside.  “Stay with me, stay with me.”

“I’m here,” he mumbled, obviously disoriented.  Aone’s punch was filled with extraordinary strength and power, and Bokuto had just taken it all to his head.

“This is Agent Halo,” Akaashi frantically called in.  “We managed to fend off the Apollumi forces, we are getting out of the cave now.  Agent Owl is hurt, but still conscious.”  Relief flowed through Akaashi’s body as he saw a bright light at the top of the tunnel: they found their way out.

“Get….” Daichi’s voice crackled, static interrupting them.  “Get him to…. Copter.  Agent Panther and…. Situation…” gunshots echoed through the headset as Akaashi’s blood ran cold.

They were all being ambushed.

\---

Daichi and Kuroo were running through the tunnels, the Plutonium being held by Kuroo in the specialized container.  Unfortunately, the two didn’t think like Akaashi and forgot to keep track of their path, so they aimlessly ran through the caves, getting turned around a few times.

“Shit, I think we already went this way,” Daichi swore.  “I remember that rock, it looks like a horse.”

“Oh yeah, you did say that just like 5 minutes ago,” Kuroo sighed, typing coordinates into his GPS.  There was no signal, though, and the GPS just showed a blank screen.  “Well, fuck.”

“We’ll get out,” Daichi assured.  “We just need to find the way up, then we’ll be fine.”  The two jogged around a corner, coming face to face with two Apollumi agents.

“Oh, it’s the head and the torso,” Agent Hanamaki snorted.

“Hanamaki,” Kuroo hissed.

“Last time we met, you shot us, didn’t you?” Matsukawa noted, tilting his head, zero amusement on his face.  Instead, a darker expression covered his profile.

“Not this time,” Hanamaki raised his gun, barely missing Kuroo’s head as the two ducked and ran to find cover.  Static erupted through the radio, and Daichi could just barely make out a word Akaashi had said.

“Stand down!” Daichi yelled, peeking over a patch of stalagmites.  

“We were sent on a mission,” Matsukawa paused, attempting to shoot at the two Dunamis agents.  “We aren’t letting you succeed this time.”  A bullet hit the top of a stalagmite right by Daichi’s face, the tip of the rock formation flying off.  He ducked farther down, yelling to Kuroo.

“I have no clear shot!”

“I got you!”  Shots were heard, coming from Kuroo’s gun, as the bullets hit off the rocks of the cave.

“ _This is Agent Halo,”_ Akaashi’s voice sounded through the headset.  “ _We managed to fend off the Apollumi forces, we are getting out of the cave now.  Agent Owl is hurt, but still conscious.”_

“Get him,” Daichi was interrupted by a shot, hitting another stalagmite right by him.  “Get him to the helicopter.  Agent Panther and I are in a bit of a situation.”  Daichi peered over the stalagmite, noticing the bullets going towards Kuroo’s hiding spot: the two Apollumi members had stopped paying attention to Daichi.  Quickly taking aim, Daichi fired a shot towards the direction of Matsukawa: it was a direct hit to the shoulder.  The agent grunted loudly, falling backwards and dropping his weapon.  Hanamaki took aim towards Daichi and the Dunamis leader froze.  This was it.

When the agent pulled the trigger, though, nothing happened.  He looked at his weapon, before swearing loudly.  It was out of ammo; one little fault just saved Daichi’s life.  Daichi looked up, still in shock, as Kuroo and Hanamaki fought hand-to-hand.  Kuroo was superior by a few years, though, and knocked him out in no time.

“Daichi, we have to go,” Kuroo yelled as the captain stood, paralyzed.

“Right.”

The two began to leave, until Daichi stopped, hearing something coming from Matsukawa’s headset.  He stopped, bending down and picking it up.

“This is Agent Tendou, we have the Torium, and the Dunamis spy.”

“Copy that,” Ushijima’s voice rippled through the headset.

Kuroo and Daichi looked at each other, horrified.  “We have to get them.”

\---

“Iwa-chan, hurry up!” Oikawa pouted from the entrance to the crevice where Iwaizumi had found the Argon.

“I’m trying, God!  It’s really stuck,” Iwaizumi yelled back, attempting to dig out the chunk of Argon.  Holding his breath and grunting, he tried to pry the chunk out.  After a few more attempts at digging around it with the pickaxe, the Argon began to loosen up.

“We’re getting somewhere, it’s out now,” Iwaizumi placed it into the container.  “You good back there, Assikawa?” There was no response though, as Iwaizumi carefully crept through the crevice.  “Tooru?”

Iwaizumi peered out and saw the worst sight ever.  Apollumi’s leader, Ushijima, was strangling a gas-mask free Oikawa, who was struggling to kick and fight back against the brute.

“We could make use of your talents on our side,” Ushijima muttered, Oikawa shaking his head ‘no.’  The grip around his neck tightened and Oikawa gasped for air.

“Let go of him!” Iwaizumi lunged towards the leader, his fist connecting with his eyebrow.  Ushijima’s hazel eyes flared in the darkness, as he threw Oikawa to the side and the two battled it out.

Iwaizumi stumbled backwards on a rock but regained his footing, just as Ushijima swung towards his neck.  Iwaizumi had the wind knocked out of him and could barely breathe, but forced his eyes open as he round-house kicked Ushijima in the chest.  The leader almost fell but caught himself and punched Iwaizumi in the bridge of his nose.  Iwaizumi was suddenly dizzy as blood began to trickle down his face, panting.  He tried to get up, but his body just wouldn’t move.

Within his semiconscious haze, Iwaizumi saw Ushijima being attacked by Oikawa, who still didn’t have his gas mask on.  In all of his years of knowing the brunette, he had never seen such anger and hatred in Oikawa’s eyes as the agent swung at Ushijima.  Something flew off of - more, out of, - Ushijima’s mouth: Oikawa had hit him so hard a tooth had been knocked out.  The Apollumi leader sputtered, spitting on the ground a few times.  Even though his mind was foggy, Iwaizumi pushed himself up as he saw a red liquid on the ground, where Ushijima spat.  Blood was pooling in Iwaizumi’s gas mask (from his nose), and he took it off to empty the mask.

“You didn’t think I would give up so easily, did you now?” Ushijima questioned in a sinister tone.

“Of course not,” Oikawa replied, equally serious.

“Well - “ Ushijima paused, bringing his hand to his ear.  An evil grin filled his face as he made eye contact with the two agents.  “Copy that.”

“Copy what?” Iwaizumi hissed.

“Let me just say,” he began to walk away.  “You two aren’t important to me anymore.”  He was gone quickly, even when Iwaizumi and Oikawa attempted to chase him.  They slowed down and stopped, their breathing heavy.

“Tooru, put your mask on!” Iwaizumi ordered, picking the mask up.  Unfortunately, it was all broken and torn up.  “What the fuck did he do?”

“I don’t know,” Oikawa shrugged.  “But if he doesn’t care about us anymore, that must mean they have Nishinoya and the Torium.  We need to go after it.”

“ _I_ do,” Iwaizumi said.  “You can’t go any deeper without a mask.”

“Then give me yours,” Oikawa argued.  “Hajime, your nose is just about broken, there’s still blood coming out of it.”

“I don’t care,” Iwaizumi fought.  “You were the one that got choked.”

“Okay, we need to stop fighting and figure something out,” Oikawa yelled, his voice echoing against the rocky walls..  “Or Nishinoya could die and this mission could be a failure.”  The two stood in silence for a moment, their breathing and the dripping of water from the cave the only noises.

“You go,” Iwaizumi took off his mask, wiping as much blood out of it as possible.  “You’re right, I’m not in the shape I should be if I want to help.”  Oikawa nodded, fear secretly filling his chest as he took the mask from Iwaizumi’s hands.  Iwaizumi suddenly grabbed Oikawa and the two clung on to each other, hugging tightly.

“Don’t tell Daichi, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa joked, sliding Iwaizumi’s mask onto his face.

“Shut up.”  The two looked at each other for another moment before parting, sprinting their opposite directions.

\---

“ _Agent Halo, we need assistance in the caves,_ ” Daichi’s voice sounded through the headset as Akaashi sat in the helicopter.  He and Bokuto were both in the helicopter (now landed), Kenma tending to Bokuto’s injury; his right eye and face were already bruising into a sickly purple color.

“Copy that,” Akaashi responded, standing up and grabbing weapons he was most comfortable using.

“ _We suspect Agent Ninja was captured by_ Serpent, _and they also have the Torium_.”

“Well, that’s not good,” Kenma remarked, gently patting ice onto Bokuto’s bruises.

“Akaashi,” Bokuto sat up, his swollen face worrying the other agent.  “Please.”

“Koutarou,” Akaashi stopped him, an aura of dignity surrounding him.  “I can do this, and we need to.  Our whole mission relies on getting Agent Ninja and the Torium.”

“Let me go with you,” the gray-haired agent tried to sit up, only to be pressed back down by Kenma.

“You’re not in the shape for that,” Akaashi shook his head.  “Trust me.  Band of brothers.”

“... band of brothers.”

\---

Nishinoya’s head was leaning uncomfortably on his shoulder as he slumped against the wall.  His eyes slowly opened, fluttering, as he realized where he was: he was in the Apollumi “camp,” per say, as it was full of resources and weapons.  He realized his gas mask wasn’t on his face as a sickening thickness of air filled his lungs.

For some reason, dark red was covering his right eye, and he wiped it away.  When he drew his hand back, an inhuman noise escaped his lips as a large amount of blood stuck to his now-shaking hand.  Bringing his hand up to head, he felt the hot, wet liquid coming from a large gash on his forehead, and it took all of his will to not cry.

Quickly finding gauze from his uniform-attached first-aid kit, he wrapped it around his head a few times to try to stop the bleeding.  He must’ve lost a lot of blood already, as he was feeling pretty light-headed.

He quickly surveyed the area that he was located at.  It was a giant cavern with two entrances, two agents guarding the area: Tendou and Daishou.  One was each stationed at an entrance, talking back and forth, but Nishinoya’s hearing was muffled and he couldn’t really understand them at first until his ears adjusted.

“Is he still unconscious?” Daishou asked, turning around.  Nishinoya instantly slumped back over, deciding it was the best plan if he wanted to get out.

“Yeah,” Tendou affirmed.  “He’s lost a lot of blood, so he’ll be out for a while.  He’ll probably die, actually.”  Nishinoya’s breath caught in his throat at the words, but he didn’t dare make a sound.  Static sounded in Nishinoya’s ear, and when he slid the headset off (after the Apollumi agents diverted their attention from him), he found it to be completely broken.

This was the worst situation Nishinoya had ever been in, even with his years of rigorous, intense training.  He was stuck in an underground cave, radioactive fumes finding their way into his lungs along with having tons of blood pouring from his head (even with the gauze - it was starting to bleed through), weaponless and doubting that his team was coming for him.

Nishinoya tried to shift positions, only to have his whole body feel like it was being stabbed with thousands of knives.  He grit his teeth, tears burning his eyes, but forced himself to stay strong.  Noya slumped over, trying to formulate a plan in his head.  With every failed idea that he came up with, Nishinoya lost more and more hope of making it out alive and with the Torium.

Something caught his eye, though: a circle of light right by the edge of his foot.  Nishinoya opened his eyes wider and traced the source of light to a pathway at the top of the cavern.  There was a pathway up there, but it ended and if someone were to keep walking, they would fall about 20 feet into the cave chamber.  Oikawa was up there, flashing the flashlight and tapping his ear, signaling the earpiece.  Nishinoya shook his head the slightest, weakly holding up the destroyed headset.  Oikawa tilted his head sideways, but gave him a thumbs up.   _Everything will be okay._  

Just then, Ushijima walked into the cavern, Nishinoya slumping down again.  With his eye just barely opened, he saw Oikawa’s hand on his headset, so he must’ve been communicating with the others.  Blood trickled down out of Ushijima’s mouth as he wiped it away with the back of his hand.

“Where are the others?” Ushijima snapped, Daishou flinching slightly.

“We can’t get in contact with them,” Tendou informed the leader.  Ushijima paced around the room, a snarl leaving his mouth.  Just then, Matsukawa and Hanamaki walked into the room.  Matsukawa was holding his shoulder, while dried blood appeared on the side of Hanamaki’s mouth, his jaw crooked.

“We tried looking for Aone and Yaku, but we couldn’t find them,” Matsukawa grimaced.

“Well, this is enough for now,” Ushijima said.  “We only have one agent to deal with.”  Their heads all turned to Nishinoya, who was faking unconsciousness.  

\---

“Okay, Akaashi, are you in position?” Daichi whispered through the headset.

“ _Yes._ ”

“Okay, so once more: Oikawa, take the shot at Ushijima, and Kuroo and I will come through the main entrance.  Akaashi, you’re going through the other entrance, and we’ll get Nishinoya and the Torium out.  Then we meet up as quickly as possible in the main cavern and get the hell out of here.”

“Copy,” everyone’s voices sounded.

“Alright.  3, 2, 1… execute.”

Oikawa took aim at Ushijima’s head and shot the gun but was a hair off.  It whizzed centimeters away from Ushijima’s head, and the group of Apollumi agents whipped their heads around.

“Oh, whoops!” Oikawa yelled from above, a playful smile resting on his lips.  “That’s why I’m not a sniper.”

“Get him!” Ushijima’s voice thundered, Daishou taking off.  However, Kuroo, Daichi, and Akaashi stormed into the room, and it became a firefight.  Guns were being fired left and right as Nishinoya crawled in the back of the room, his entire body feeling as if it were being burned with raging fire.

He saw the capsule full of the Torium, the slate-gray element catching some light and creating it’s iridescent glow.  He dove and rolled forward, snatching the container as he let out a moan of pain.  Suddenly, he was lifted up by his vest, and he feared the worst, clenching his eyes shut with a cry.  Unable to resist the temptation, though, Nishinoya opened his eyes and found himself behind cover, Daichi next to him.

“Alpha,” Noya breathed.

“Ninja,” Daichi nodded his head, peeking over the rocks and taking a few shots.  He brought his hand to his headset, “Dunamis, we are clear for retreat.”  The Dunamis members started falling back, until a choked cry was heard.  Everyone, including the Apollumi agents, looked up to see Daishou holding Oikawa over the edge of the cavern at the top of the room as they lay on the ground.  Oikawa struggled to kick him off, sputtering and making loud noises.

Kuroo didn’t hesitate and aimed his gun up there: his first three shots hit the cave wall, unsettling some rocks, but the last one hit Daishou.  In the head.

The Apollumi agent slumped over Oikawa as the latter pushed him off, his eyes looking down wildly.

“Daishou!” The Apollumi agents yelled, scrambling out of the room.  The Dunamis agents sprinted out of the cavern as the entire cave system shook.  Nishinoya was obviously falling behind the others as he lacked strength and energy.

Although the agents didn’t know it, Kuroo’s shots had hit a patch of Francium that made up a lot of the cave system; it had caused a reaction and small explosion within the center of the Francium, which was causing the cave to collapse in on itself.  So far, small rocks and pebbles were falling from the top as the Dunamis agents shielded their heads with their arms as the rocks pummeled down.  They stopped for a moment, waiting for Oikawa to join them.  He suddenly sprinted out of a separate pathway, blood flowing out of a gash in his cheek.

“The rocks are dangerous, we need to get out,” he panted, not stopping his pace. The group didn’t exchange words as they began to dash through the cave system.  Their legs somehow carried them, pushed them through the falling debris.  As they neared the cave exit, bright light from the outside flowing in, the entire cavern began to shake and rumble.

“It’s going to collapse!” Daichi yelled.  “Run!”

Everyone propelled themselves forward with the last bit of energy they had, except for Nishinoya.  He collapsed on the spot, unable to continue on.  Akaashi and Daichi noticed this, falling behind.

“Take this,” he breathed, handing the container to Daichi.  “Go.  I can’t.”

“Nishin-”

“Go or we’ll all die!” Noya yelled, tears burning his eyes between pain and defeat.  Daichi and Akaashi looked at each other, giant rocks falling from the ceiling as the cave began to close in on itself.  They nodded, unnerved, but continued forward.

Akaashi second guessed himself, though, and grabbed Nishinoya, throwing him over his shoulder.  They were almost to the exit when the last of the rocks began to fall, and the last thing Nishinoya heard was the cry of their names from the outside world.

\---

Daichi, Kuroo, and Oikawa threw themselves out of the cave as the rocks fell inward, covering the former underground pathway.  They looked back, their breaths uneven as their bodies shook from exhaustion and defeat, as they just lost two of their members.

Iwaizumi, Kenma, and Bokuto raced over (Iwaizumi clinging onto a bloody cloth and Bokuto holding ice to his head), stopping behind the collapsed agents.

“Where’s Akaashi?” Bokuto’s voice cracked.  Daichi ripped his mask off, tears burning his eyes as he grit his teeth.

“I failed as a leader,” his voice shook, barely a whisper.  “I couldn’t save them.  It should’ve been _me._ ”

“Daichi-”

“It should’ve been _meI”_ Daichi grabbed Kuroo, holding onto his collar as his tears broke out.  “ _I_ should’ve been the one to get the Torium, _I_ should’ve been captured, _I_ should’ve died.  Not two of our agents.”

Bokuto had no words as he fell to the ground, squeezing the grass as tears ran down his cheeks.  They burned his bruised, beaten up face, yet his body let out a few shaky sobs.  Oikawa wiped away the blood on his cheek as Iwaizumi squeezed his wrist, thankful that he made it out alive.  They were all heartbroken that their fellow agents didn’t, though.

“We need to look,” Bokuto stood up, his eyes red.

“Bokuto-” Iwaizumi started.

“You know what, Hajime?” Bokuto screamed, tackling the other agent to the ground.  “You still have your significant other!  Mine is buried under tons of rocks, yours is right here next to you!  How do you think I feel?  Sure as hell -”

“Bokuto!” Numerous members grabbed Bokuto, peeling him off of a shocked Iwaizumi.  He began crying again as Kenma lead him away from the group to try to cool him off.

“It’s worth a shot,” Daichi admitted, regaining his composure.  “We should try to look.”  Everyone nodded their heads and set to work, throwing rocks to the side as they continued digging.

The entire cave had really collapsed in, though.  They dug rocks out for about an hour, not getting anywhere.  With every rock they tossed out and no path visible, their hope began to disappear.  Even as grown men, tears streamed down their faces as the reality of losing their fellow agents grew more likely.

“One more,” Bokuto cried, biting his lip.  He tossed a rock aside, only to see a few more rocks in the way.  He leaned on top of the pile and started crying again; Daichi was a mess as well, the weight of responsibility heavily resting on his shoulders.  Kuroo lay on the ground, frustrated and frequently shouting incoherently.

“Fuck,” Oikawa ran a hand through his hair.  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“Guys,” Iwaizumi, the only one who seemed in any sort of condition to lead.  “Keep pushing through.”

With what slivers of hope they had left, they dug through a few more layers of rock.

“Wait.”

Everyone walked over to where Daichi was sitting, and they peered in.  There was still a lot of debris in the cave, but it was cleared up enough that they would be able to go in and search.

“Remember it’s still unstable, so we need to be careful,” Daichi warned, carefully stepping into the gap he had made.  All 6 of them stepped in, turning their flashlights on and looking around.

“Hello?” A weak voice echoed.

“Akaashi,” Bokuto perked up.  “Akaashi!”  He began frantically chasing the voice, the others following him.  They stopped in their tracks, seeing a small hole in the wall.  Peering inside, they saw Akaashi, propping up a profusely bleeding Nishinoya.

“Shit!” They all cried out, carefully getting the two out of the crack in the wall.  Akaashi nearly collapsed when he came out, Bokuto catching him and hugging him tightly.

“I thought you died,” Bokuto murmured into Akaashi’s neck, crying.  “I thought you died.”

“I did too,” Akaashi replied, the group laughing lightly to ease the tension.  “But on a serious note, we need to get Nishinoya medical attention.”  They began to take in the sight of so much blood that came from Nishinoya’s head, as well as a large gash that came from his shoulder, visible because his uniform had ripped.

“Right,” Daichi nodded his head.  “Kuroo and Oikawa, you two _carefully_ carry him, and we will get out of here.”  

The whole group quickly made its way out of the debris-filled cave, Kuroo’s face filled with concern as he looked as Noya’s injury.   _Shit, this is bad_ , he thought to himself.  The gauze that was wrapped around his head was completely soaked through, not doing anything to prevent the injury from getting worse.

Minutes later, they all settled into the helicopter, Nishinoya on a stretcher, as Akaashi tried to manage the wound to the best of his medical ability.  He replaced the gauze and patched it up better, applying more pressure, and being able to stop the bleeding for now.  

With their various injuries (Bokuto’s bruised face, Iwaizumi’s injured nose, Akaashi’s large cuts and bruises, along with minor injuries from everyone else), they circled around Nishinoya.

“Although this didn’t turn out as we expected,” Daichi began.  “We succeeded with our mission and got everyone out alive.  That’s what is important.  Dunamis has succeeded again with taking out _Serpent_.  Change is coming.”

Everyone nodded their heads respectfully, the only sound being the rumble of the helicopter as it flew through the air.

“Band of brothers.”

“Band of brothers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *attempts to kill off more characters*  
> holy shiT i cried like 20 times while writing this wtf im such trash  
> i hope you guys like this... as im still crying  
> just wait for next chapter.... shit
> 
> hmu on tumblr to scream with me about the volley children! haikyuuliberos.tumblr.com


	3. Mission 260

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to say that 1) there is major character death in this chapter and 2) there are also some dark themes involved with this chapter which i apologize about but think is necessary for this chapter. i suggest you do not read if you have depression or anxiety.
> 
> theres a part that says "play song" (i will include the link) and it is not necessary to play but i think it really adds to the mood.

“Agent Alpha, this is the most crucial mission since the creation of Team Dunamis,” Director Ukai told the leader.  “Are you ready to execute this mission?”

“Yes.”

“Your team alone could be the ones to permanently take out  _ Serpent _ , defeating our greatest threat and one of the greatest undercover threats of the world,” the director’s gaze didn’t falter from Daichi’s.  “You have the rest of today and all of tomorrow until the evening to prepare for this mission.”

“We will complete this mission successfully, as we have with our others,” Daichi stood up, giving the director one last look.  “We will not let the JSPO down.”

“That’s what I like to hear.  Go inform your team and begin preparations.”

Daichi left the room and hurriedly made his way to the Dunamis headquarters.  When he entered the room, he was slightly relieved to see his entire team playing cards and shouting at each other.

It had been 3 months since their last mission: they had been off the field because there were so many injuries from the mission.  Nishinoya’s giant gash had just become a scar, becoming more and more faint everyday, and thankfully, the fiery little spy was back to his old self.  Iwaizumi’s nose was broken, but they managed to fix it and he was alright.  Bokuto’s face was bruise-free, even though it took a month and a half for it to completely disappear.

“Ay, Daichi,” they all greeted, Kuroo throwing his cards down.

“Suck it!” He pumped his fist, grabbing the ‘tokens’ (it was an assortment of food, gum, ammo, and other weird items).  “What’s up, Cap?”

“So, we have another mission,” Daichi sat down in the chair at the head of the table.  Daichi  _ never  _ sat down, and everyone glanced around at each other, clearing the table off.

“We are going to take out  _ Serpent _ .”

“What?” Everyone asked in unison.

“Here’s what happened,” Daichi began.  “JSPO technicians were able to intercept communications between the two  _ Serpent _ leaders, Directors Nekomata and Irihata.  All of the officials are meeting in a building in Tokyo, which also means that the majority of their high-ranking agents will be there.  We are going to take out all their leaders and the ‘higher-ups,’ and bring an end to  _ Serpent _ .”  Daichi pounded his fist on the table.

“If we are taking out the people,” Oikawa paused, in thought.  “Are we shooting to kill?”

“Yes.” Daichi responded immediately, surprising the group because he didn’t want his squad shooting to kill.  Since that rule was being broken for this mission, they all realized how big of a deal this assignment was.

“How’s this going down?” Nishinoya asked, determination lit up in his eyes.

“Tomorrow at 19:00 we are leaving by helicopter,” Daichi explained the plan, pulling up projections on the advanced technology table.  “We will be dropped off on the rooftop a few buildings away, and go toward the building 9281.  There will definitely be soldiers on the roof, so we will handle them and then get into the building.  They are meeting on the top public floor in room 1327, so it should relatively easy to get in there.  However, the stakes are high because the security will be more intense than we have ever seen, and we have to make sure no important leaders escape, or another head will just grow back.”

Everyone stared at Daichi as he scanned the group of agents.  They were the best of the best, and he was confident that this mission, even though there might be some problems along the way, would be successful.

\---

The helicopter soared through the dark Tokyo sky, quite low to the buildings.  Everyone was unnaturally quiet as the weight of the mission weighed heavily on them.  The Attack Force members were fiddling with their guns, making adjustments and triple-checking that they had enough ammo.  Akaashi was making sure that all of his equipment and technology were working as they should be, and Oikawa was messing around with his vest.  Nishinoya anxiously waited, tapping his foot on the ground and frequently changing positions, while Daichi sat perfectly still, going over the plan in his head.

“Dunamis, we’re going in for the landing,” Kenma’s voice rang through everyone’s headsets.  Taking deep breaths and standing up, everyone was on edge but prepared for their mission.  The helicopter door opened and Daichi tossed the rope down, saluting to his team before sliding down the rope.  After he landed on the roof, the rest of his team followed, sliding down quietly yet quickly.

Daichi spotted their target building easily: it was 5 towers over.  They would have to hop over the space between each tower, which would probably be fairly easy for everyone except Nishinoya.  He motioned for the rest of Dunamis to follow, and they stayed right behind him in a pack.  Daichi, taking a deep breath, leapt across the 6 foot gap between the buildings, landing somewhat hard on the opposite roof.  Everyone else followed suit, Nishinoya’s face twisted with anxiety.

“We’ll catch you,” Daichi ensured.  Nodding his head, Noya leapt forward, just a foot short, but was caught by Daichi and Kuroo, pulling him up.  This process continued until they got to their target building.  They quickly hid behind a giant generator on the roof, listening to  _ Serpent _ agents talking.  

“Let’s split off into the groups we discussed.  Group 1 will take the two on the left side and group B will take the 3 on the right,” Daichi whispered, everyone nodding their heads.  Daichi, Oikawa, Akaashi, and Bokuto split off to the right, while Kuroo, Iwaizumi, and Noya head off to the left.

“Hey do you - “ the agent’s voice was interrupted by gunshots, lots of shouting ensuing on the roof.  In a matter of moments, though, all the  _ Serpent _ men lay on the ground, dead.  All of the Dunamis member couldn’t help but feel their chest tightening, since they had never killed this many people in one mission.

And there were still more.

“Let’s go,” Daichi broke the silence, lifting the hatch from the roof to the power room.  Everyone hopped down, Kuroo being the last and closing the hatch.  They wandered around the room, trying to find the stairs to get onto the accessible rooms.

“What if we pulled the power?” Nishinoya asked, motioning towards a generator.  Akaashi walked over and started studying the generator.

“If we all agree to it,” Akaashi said, peeking around the machine.  “I can force a hard reset on the generator, which will turn all the power off for 5 minutes, then it will come back on.  It will probably confuse  _ Serpent _ and we can get to 1327 more safely than without, probably.”  Daichi stood in thought for a moment, trying to think on his feet.

“Go for it.  Execute in 3, 2, 1… now.”  Daichi count down, Akaashi doing what he needed to do.  Suddenly, all the lights (including the emergency lights), shut off, the building eerily quiet since there was no energy flowing through it.  “We have to go.”

They quickly found the stair doors and began running down them, looking for level 13.  They quickly went from 15 to 14, finally making it to floor 13.  The door burst open, though, and  _ Serpent _ agents stood there, surprised to see Dunamis agents.  After shooting down the 3 agents, Dunamis continued on, looking for their room.  The way the building was set up, though, it was like a maze: it wasn’t just one straight hallway all the way down.  There were tons of shoot-offs and places to hide.

“Let’s split off in our groups,” Daichi whispered.  “Group A take the left side, Group B take the right.”  The groups nodded and began scanning for room 1327.

Group A (Kuroo, Iwaizumi, and Noya) started seeing more and more  _ Serpent  _ members.  Noya went on ahead and quietly killed the agents, covering their mouths and dragging them back to Kuroo and Iwaizumi.

Group B (Daichi, Oikawa, Akaashi, and Bokuto) only saw a few members, but realized they were going the wrong way since the numbers were getting bigger instead of smaller (to 27).  They turned around and began following the trail of dead  _ Serpent  _ agents.  They rounded a corner to see Group A with their guns up and pointed, before they sighed.

“Jesus Christ, you scared us,” Iwaizumi mumbled.  “There’s too many  _ Serpent _ agents over there, and if we try to go over, the Directors will hear and evacuate.”

“We need to cause a distraction,” Daichi rubbed his chin.  “Group A, split up and flash your flashlights against the wall, so hopefully they’ll be drawn away.  Then keep running, and we’ll do the rest.  I’ll give the signal to regroup.”  Everyone nodded their heads, Kuroo, Iwaizumi, and Nishinoya splitting up.  The plan began to work pretty well, as the agents (many of whom were Apollumi), flooded away from the room.

Nishinoya drew Yaku away from the door first, rounding corners and continuously flashing the light so the other elite spy would see.  He began to panic, though, as the other spy drew nearer and nearer.  Suddenly, Daichi came out of nowhere and, covering Yaku’s mouth as he yelled and flailed, shot him.  Nishinoya looked away from the sight.  Oikawa popped up as well, but he was too late and missed his chance (which he was slightly thankful for).

Kuroo managed to draw away both Aone and Matsukawa, Bokuto trailing the two stealthily.  It was like an owl hunting its prey; Kuroo’s blood ran cold as he heard muffled screams, his fellow member skillfully killing the members of their long time rival.  Akaashi trailed behind and managed to kill Hanamaki, even though it wasn’t quite as quiet as the others.  That was their fatal flaw; a certain someone figured out what was happening

Iwaizumi was wandering around the corner, thinking he had someone following him, until he was grabbed and thrust against the wall, a hand pressing into his mouth.  His eyes widened in fear as he stared into the villainous red eyes of Tendou.

“There’s nothing you can do,” his sickening voice whispered into Iwaizumi’s ear.  His hand wrapped tightly around the Dunamis sniper’s neck, pressing the barrel of his pistol under Iwaizumi’s chin.  Iwaizumi struggled against the Apollumi agent.  “You’re dying either way.”

Suddenly, blood splattered against the wall, and a body fell to the floor with a nauseating thud.  

It was Tendou.

Iwaizumi was shaking as looked up to see Oikawa standing at the end of the short hallway, his eyes wide with fear. 

“Oikawa,” Iwaizumi ran towards him, relieved yet horrified at the same time.  Tendou’s face kept appearing in his mind, the way his eyes rolled back in his head as he fell to the ground, the pistol weakly being dragged across Iwaizumi’s body.

“We need to finish the mission,” Oikawa murmured, a new, strong aura surrounding him.  “Stay by me.”

“ _ Dunamis, we’re clear for regroup, _ ” Daichi’s voice announced softly.  Dunamis regrouped in the same spot that they met in a matter of seconds.  “Okay, we are going in there and…” Daichi took a deep breath.

“We know,” Kuroo bit the inside of his cheek.

This was by far their darkest mission.  They were deliberately killing many people, probably around one hundred in one night, but for the sake of saving potentially thousands of other people in the long run.  Even though these people were dark and had twisted mindsets, they were still human beings and it was taking its toll on everyone.

Daichi nodded his head, his eyes holding a nameless emotion as they crept toward the door.  Voices were heard in the room, and Daichi held up his hand.

1,

2,

3.

They barged into the room and, as bullets were traded between sides (as there were agents within the room).  

Without going into detail, everyone related to  _ Serpent _ within the room had passed on within a matter of minutes.  

The Dunamis members quickly exited the room, not wanting to take in the sight.  Their jobs usually meant infiltrating  _ Serpent  _ headquarters and gathering information, as well as protecting JSPO.  They were trained to kill, but it was something they never really followed through with.  This mission changed the game, though, as they left the room, feeling serious and tragedy-stricken.

“We need to go,” Daichi said, his voice quieter than usual.  Everyone looked up, cool hues subtly overtaking their eyes, as they ran through the building and up the stairs.  The lights began to flicker and come back on as they ran up the stairs, Akaashi pursing his lips.  

“Kenma, we’ll be ready for pickup,” Daichi said into the headset as the group burst into the power room at the top of the building.  

“Alright.  Meet at the same building as drop off,” Kenma’s voice pierced through their ears.  Lifting up the hatch to the roof, Daichi climbed out and helped pull everyone up.  They were jogging over to the edge when someone cut them off.

Ushijima.

“Daichi,” the crazed agent hissed.

“Ushijima,” Daichi held his gun up, standing in front of the rest of the Dunamis members.  Nishinoya, the last out, crept around a giant generator, having a bad feeling about the situation.

“You took… you took my entire organization from  _ me _ ,” Ushijima thundered.  His eyes held a type of insanity the agents had never seen before; it was like a raging fire, spreading all over his brain and wrecking havoc.  “So this is what you get.”

Nishinoya held his gun of shakily as he saw Ushijima raise his, pulling the trigger.  A loud bang was heard, as well as falling and yelling.  Screaming because he didn’t know what happened, Nishinoya pulled the trigger as well; Ushijima had just turned his head to look over, and the mixture of fear and horrifying madness that his eyes held would forever be etched in Nishinoya’s mind.  The giant figure collapsed, Nishinoya sprinting around the corner.

Daichi lay on the ground, blood pooling out of his head.  So much blood.  The whole team didn’t know what to do as they fell to their knees in shock, surrounding their leader.

“Daichi, Daichi,” Nishinoya whimpered, holding his head.  When he drew his hand away, a pool of blood was on his hand, reminding him of the cave-mission, to which a sob shook his body.

“Fuck, fuck,” Bokuto swore.   **[play[song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIcn_nKHpCI)].**

“Get something and, uh, wrap it around his head, shit,” Iwaizumi spoke quickly.  Oikawa grabbed a random cloth and began holding it onto Daichi’s head, even though the blood just kept coming.

“Kenma,” Kuroo’s usually confident voice shook.  “We have a situation.”

“What’s up?”

“Daichi’s shot.  It’s not looking good.”  Oikawa started hyperventilating at that and everyone began rushing around, trying to figure things out.

“I can’t land on the roof you’re on, but I can try to hover in between the two roofs?” Kenma suggested, worry filling his voice.

“I guess.” 

The group lifted Daichi up, Iwaizumi still trying to cover Daichi’s profusely bleeding wound.  They all managed to get onto the helicopter and set Daichi on the stretcher, Akaashi making panicked calls into the JSPO medical center.

“Daichi, Daichi,” Bokuto held the leader’s head.  “Stay with us.”

Daichi’s eyes blinked weakly as he looked up at the group, his face the palest shade of white.  He breathed out, looking at Akaashi.

“No more,” his voice inaudible.  “It’s okay.”

“No, Daichi,” Nishinoya yelled.

“Band of brothers,” Daichi mouthed.

“No, Daichi… stay with us,” Kuroo demanded.  The weakest smile appeared on Daichi’s lips as the dark red surrounded his head, wetting his hair.

“We succeeded.”

“No, we - “

“Band of brothers.”  With that, a last breath escaped Daichi’s lips, his eyes closing peacefully, a smile resting on his lips.

“Band of brothers.”  The group repeated for the last time.

Nishinoya sobbed, hitting himself for not acting faster.

Oikawa let out a deep breath before falling to the ground.

Iwaizumi bit his lip, making it bleed as tears streamed down his face, joining Oikawa on the floor.

Bokuto let loose a string of swear words as tears burned his eyes.

Akaashi sat down, his head in his hands as he softly cried.

Kuroo stood there, paralyzed with shock and sadness.  His lip quivered as he looked up and watched the moon in the sky.  It cast a stunning light onto Daichi’s face; despite the nature of the situation, it looked so beautiful with the bright light covering the former leader’s face, his lips softly turned up.

_ You can be with Suga now. _

\---

“I want to congratulate you on the success of the mission,” Director Ukai told the entire group.  They looked at him merely out of respect, but probably would’ve ignored the person if it were anyone else.  “ _ Serpent _ is now defeated and crumbling, so they will not be an issue for us anymore.  I am also very sorry for the loss of Agent Sawamura.  He was a one-of-a-kind leader, and one of the JSPO’s best.  This is very difficult for us, too.”

Dunamis just nodded their heads solemnly. 

“However, we need to appoint a new leader to lead Team Dunamis, and Agent Kuroo, numerous officials think that you are best suited for this.  What do you say?”

“No,” Kuroo answered immediately.  “I’m not going to be on Team Dunamis anymore because there is no Daichi.”

“I… I thought you would say that,” Director Ukai admitted.  “Are you all feeling the same?”

“Yes,” everyone replied, although not quite in unison.

“Well,” the director sighed.  “I guess you all will be retiring from the JSPO, then.”  Everyone got up and placed their badges in Director Ukai’s hand, leaving the room quietly.  Once in the hallway, Kuroo broke down crying for the first time in front of his team.  They all joined together in their last huddle.

“We will  _ always _ be brothers,” Akaashi said.  “Always.”

\---

**_10 Years Later_ **

“Hey!  What’s up?” Kuroo hugged Bokuto and Akaashi as they sat down on the bar stools next to the tall black-haired man.  

“Kuroo!  Looking better and better every time we see you,” Bokuto laughed.  Kuroo hugged Akaashi as well, the two trading greetings.

“How’s Amaya?” Kuroo asked.

“She’s doing great,” Akaashi responded, smiling about their daughter.  “She’s getting pretty good at volleyball.”

“Awesome,” Kuroo rubbed his hands together.

“Ay, look at these dorks!” Nishinoya’s voice rang through the bar, everyone stopping and staring at the tiny man.

“Hey, hey, hey!” The group embraced.  “Noya, no more blonde?”

“No,” Nishinoya rubbed the back of his neck with a laugh.  “Hanoka made me get dye it back.”

“What a shame,” Bokuto shook his head.

“Iwa-chan!  It’s them!”  Oikawa and Iwaizumi walked in, some people checking out a still-gorgeous Oikawa as Iwaizumi leered at them, although his attitude changed dramatically when he saw his former team.

“Hey guys,” Iwaizumi beamed, hugging and shaking hands with the crew.

“How are things going… you know?” Akaashi asked hesitantly.

“I haven’t had any night terrors since I started taking a new medication a few months ago,” Iwaizumi smiled lightly.

“We’re proud of you, man,” Kuroo pat his back.

All the guys ordered some drinks and conversed as if they had just seen each other yesterday; the group met once a year, on Daichi’s anniversary.  Even though they had all split off into their own paths, they were still just as close as before.  Fighting in tense situations at high stakes really brought groups of people together.

Ex-Dunamis made their way to the back of the bar, the moon shining down brightly on the group.  They quieted down and sipped their drinks in silence, taking the moment in.

“It’s been what… 10 years now?” Nishinoya remarked, sadness underneath his tone.

“Wow, it has,” Oikawa replied quietly.  They stood still once again, the only sound being a gently breeze blowing and the cawing of a crow.

“Well,” Kuroo raised his glass.  “Band of brothers.”

“Band of brothers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so sorry   
> i am crying  
> i cried while writing this im crying again i cry whenever i listen to the song and shit im so sorry  
> why did i just kill off like all of my favorite characters  
> whatever its fine  
> *goes read happy/sappy fics to feel better*  
> i hoped you liked this tragic story anyways :)

**Author's Note:**

> i am sorry not sorry for:  
> -almost killing a ton of people  
> -lowkey crazy Tendou  
> -Suga  
> -what is going to come  
> -everything
> 
> why did i think of this AU and why did i have to write this oh nO  
> when i first wrote this i was like "there will be no ships lmao" but then i started writing and it was like shIPS EVERYWHERE SUCKER HAHA so yep
> 
> love your support guys thanks for everything :)
> 
> ps: buckle up the road is about go get rough


End file.
